N Korea demands compensation to improve ties with Japan

TOKYO, Jan 5: North Korea, fresh from setting up diplomatic relations with Italy, Wednesday demanded war-time compensation and an apology from Japan as a condition for improved ties, reports AFP.

"If the relations between the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and Japan are to be improved, Japan must sincerely apologise and compensate for the immeasurable misery, pain and disaster imposed by it upon the Korean people in the past and drop its hostile policy towards the DPRK," said an official North Korean media report.

"The improvement of relations between the DPRK and Japan would be unthinkable without this action," said the daily Rodong Sinmun in a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Japan, which was a harsh colonial ruler of Korea from 1910-45, is seeking to set up diplomatic relations with North Korea.

North Korea also turned up the heat on the United States.

In Beijing, Pyongyang's ambassador to Beijing Chu Chang-Jun told a press conference that North Korea would not send a delegation to the United States because it was still an enemy.

"The government of the United States must withdraw its troops from South Korea, stop its interference in the affairs of Korea and stop threatening North Korea," Chu said.

"Then we will not regard the US as an enemy."

The North Korean demands were issued a day after Italy said it had become the first member of the Group of Seven industrialised nations to set up diplomatic ties with the Stalinist nation.

Japan's government had to pay compensation and apologise to "keep pace with the domestic and foreign pressure for the improvement of relations between the DPRK and Japan," said the KCNA report, monitored here.

Last month Japan's government lifted all remaining North Korea sanctions, including a food aid ban, which were imposed after Pyongyang test-fired a medium-range missile over Japan in August 1998.

Exploratory talks were held between Japan and North Korea in Beijing from December 21-22 towards setting up diplomatic ties and a fresh meeting was due within months.

But the North Korean report said Japan's "liquidation of its past crimes is not simply confined to the apology and compensation."

"The point is whether Japan is willing to repent of its crime-woven past and turn over a new leaf or not and whether it will be qualified to be a full-fledged member of the international community or not," the report added.

"Any attempt to cover up its past crimes and go out for overseas aggression will only lead Japan to its ruin."